Newsletter

As we begin moving into the 2014 political campaign season, with races for governor and U.S. senator, among others, facing Georgians, one issue should be receiving a great deal of attention: possible increases in the federal minimum wage, and the creation of an even higher state minimum wage, as many states have done.

This issue should be nonpartisan. Polls show a majority of voters of both parties, along with independent voters, favor an increase in the minimum wage. Unfortunately, Republican Party leaders, and some Democrats, oppose even the existence of a minimum wage, arguing, among other things, that the primary impact of a minimum wage is to reduce jobs because of increased employment costs.

Of course, studies regarding the accuracy of that view are, at best, mixed — and a significant majority show no such longer-term negative impact on jobs.

The theory behind a minimum wage is to benefit minimum-wage workers and their families (members of our community); the argument is that no person who works full-time should be unable to support a family and be forced to live at a poverty level.

But beyond its direct benefit to workers, an appropriate-level minimum wage will increase overall demand for products and services, as workers have more money to spend and in fact will spend that money, so that an entire economy, especially smaller retail businesses, will grow, creating a “reverse austerity” environment that reduces, rather than increases, government spending, because of a lesser need for government support payments.

In other words, we should all support a reasonable minimum-wage increase based upon what I refer to as “trickle-up economics.” The proponents of a higher minimum wage, including enlightened business owners who would see an increase in their labor costs, endorse “trickle-up” economic policy — which does not implicate government spending — and should explain their positions to public and party officials, who seem to be controlled by larger, out-of-state economic and ideological forces.